Brussels, Belgium - Part 1

Delerium Cafe, Brussels. BelgiumBrussels is the capital of Belgium, and the European Union. It is the home of waffles (there is no such thing as Belgium Waffles) and fries (are not French in origin) and widely regarded as a capital of beer.

We arrived in Belgium after 5 days of camping in the Netherlands and went to the apartment we had rented for the week, 10 kilometres from the city centre. We had opted for an apartment in order to relax in quiet and cook for ourselves (a rarity on this trip so far).

Brussels. BelgiumThe week began easily with us taking in some Jazz performance on International Jazz Day, then on the Thursday a friend arrived from Germany to spend the weekend with us. It was May Day and most of the city was closed for the holiday, but we found a street party to enjoy with dozens of food and drink stalls and a free rock concert.

Belgium is home to some exceptional beers as well as bars to enjoy them in. There were two bars that really stood out for us, Delerium Tremens and Moeder Lambic.

Delerium Tremens Café is an excellent bar listed in the Guinness Book of Records for having the most beers available in any venue (currently they have over 3000). There are a few of these in the city centre, but we only visited the main café which has three levels. The Café was always busy and the beer was excellent. The café also offers a menu book as a souvenir which I bought for 5 Euros. Delerium also have a number of other cafés that include one dedicated to Tequila.

Delerium Cafe, Brussels. BelgiumDelerium Cafe, Brussels. Belgium

Moeder Lambic, Brussels. BelgiumMoeder Lambic has two locations offering a range of excellent beers including the Lambic Spontaneous Fermentations. When we visited, they were offering the Saint Bon-Chien range of beers… When we arrived, we asked a bartender to recommend a beer for us to try. He asked us what flavours we specifically wanted to explore and then chose a beer for us accordingly, an excellent service to offer. Here we tried the following beers: La Saison 225 Abricot, a light fruit beer; La Saison 225 Grapes, a beautiful beer with syrah grapes; Framboise Cantillon, a spontaneous fermentation raspberry ale; Bière de Miel, a surprisingly hoppy honey beer; La Saison 225, a good but not outstanding ale; Valier Blond, a fruity slightly hoppy beer; Val-Dieu Blonde, very lightly flavoured with almost no hops; Cuvée De Ranke, a spontaneous fermentation sour ale with excellent aromas of fruit with a hint of hops; Abbaye St Bon-Chien 2013, An extraordinary beer with very subtle carbonation in the style of a fine champagne.

If you visit Brussels, and enjoy tasting beer, I would highly recommend visiting both of these bars. Delerium for its range and ambience, and Moeder Lambic for the quality and variety of Lambic beers available.

Other articles in Belgium:

Brussels, Belgium Part 2

Brussels, Belgium Part 3

Brussels, International Jazz Day

 

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